February 18, 2013 1:25 pm

The Sumner High girls basketball program finally has a West Central District championship title to its name.

All it took was a little swagger to get there.

Playing with a confidence the program has lacked in recent years, Sumner took down SPSL 2A regular-season champion White River, 57-43, in the Class 2A district championship game at the ShoWare Center in Kent on Monday morning.

Sumner will take on Renton in the state regionals at 8 p.m. Friday at Kent-Meridian High School. White River will play the River Ridge/Centralia winner at 6 p.m. Friday, also at Kent-Meridian.

“The girls have worked hard all season,” Sumner coach Shane Patrick said. “It’s (been) a process to get them to believe. They’ve always played hard; they just didn’t know how to win. They know how to win now.”

Sumner (22-4) took advantage of a beat-up sixth-ranked White River team. The Hornets were without defensive leader Sutton Mills, while leading scorer Kennedy Hobert was slowed by a sprained wrist. She finished 0-for-11 from the field in 18 minutes.

Nursing a 20-18 lead at halftime, the Spartans opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run over the first four minutes. After White River’s Nicole Miller hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 30-21 with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left, Sumner sophomore Anna Hurd scored eight consecutive points to push the lead to 17.

The Spartans, who lost both games during the regular season to White River, led 40-25 after the third quarter.

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Reporter Todd Milles has been with The News Tribune since 1994, covering high schools, local colleges, auto racing, Washington State and golf. The Prep Blog serves as a forum to discuss significant high school sports happening in our community.

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